Country: Burma (now Myanmar).

Cause: Liberation of Burma from military junta.

Background: The influence of Europe begins to be felt in the Irrawaddy delta in the 16th Century. British intrusion mounts at the start of the 19th Century, culminating in 1886 when Britain takes full control of the country, naming it Burma. The British are temporarily forced out by the Japanese during the Second World War and leave for good in 1948 when Burma is declared independent.

In 1962 the Burmese Government is overthrown in a military coup d’état led by General Ne Win. The coup leaders attempt to create a single-party socialist state but end up ruining the country’s economy. Popular unrest against the military regime grows, coming to a head in 1987-88 when rioting breaks out. The regime responds with force.

Mini biography: Born on 19 June 1945 in Rangoon (now Yangon), Burma (now Myanmar). Her father, Aung San, is Burma’s most respected independence hero. Her mother, Ma Khin Kyi, is a senior nurse at Rangoon general hospital and will become a leading public figure and diplomat.

1947 – Suu Kyi’s father is assassinated in Rangoon on 19 July.

1960 – Suu Kyi moves to New Delhi when her mother is appointed Burma’s ambassador to India. While in India Suu Kyi becomes interested in Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolent resistance. After studying politics at Delhi University, she enrols at the University of Oxford in England.

1964-67 – She studies for a BA in philosophy, politics and economics at St Hugh’s College, Oxford. While at the university she meets her future husband, Michael Aris. The couple marry on 1 January 1972. They will have two sons, Alexander and Kim. Before they marry Suu Kyi tells Aris, “I only ask one thing, that should my people need me, you would help me do my duty by them.”

1969-71 – Suu Kyi works as assistant secretary to a United Nations (UN) committee in New York. In 1972 she joins her husband in Bhutan, where he tutors the Bhutanese royal family and heads the Translation Department. Suu Kyi serves as a research officer in the Bhutan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

1973 – Suu Kyi and her husband return to England for the birth of their first son, Alexander. The following year they move to Oxford, where Michael has obtained a post in Tibetan and Himalayan studies at the university.

1977 – The couple have their second son, Kim. While raising her sons, Suu Kyi begins researching and writing a biography of her father, published in 1984. Books on Burma, Nepal and Bhutan follow.

1985 – Suu Kyi travels to Japan with her son Kim to take up the post of visiting scholar at the Centre of Southeast Asian Studies at Kyoto University. Her husband journeys with their son Alexander to Simla in northern India, where he has a fellowship at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies.

1987 – The family is reunited at Simla when Suu Kyi also receives a fellowship at the Indian Institute. When they return to Oxford, Suu Kyi enrols at the London School of Oriental and African Studies to work on an advanced degree.

1988 – On 31 March Suu Kyi receives a telephone call informing her that her mother has suffered a severe stroke. She flies to Rangoon the next day.

Meanwhile, student-led protests against Burma’s military regime break out in Rangoon in March and June. The protests are triggered by a currency devaluation that wipes out the value of most people’s savings without warning or compensation.

The regime responds to the protests with force but loses its grip on power when Ne Win steps down on 23 July.

Ominously, in his last public address before leaving office, Ne Win warns, “If in the future there are mob disturbances, if the army shoots, it hits.”

Sein Lwin, the head of the riot police and a close associate of Ne Win, is put in control of the government. He quickly orders the imposition of martial law.

The movement for democracy gains momentum during the so-called ‘Democracy Summer’ or ‘Rangoon Spring’, culminating in a mass uprising on 8 August that spreads from Rangoon across the entire country. The uprising is squashed when the military fires on the demonstrators, killing thousands. (Sources estimate between 3,000 and 10,000 die). The bloodshed comes to an end on 12 August when it is announced that Sein Lwin, the so-called ‘Butcher of Burma’, has resigned.

As the daughter of Burma’s foremost independence hero, Suu Kyi is drawn into the democracy movement. On 15 August she sends an open letter to the government asking for the formation of an independent People’s Consultative Committee to prepare for multiparty elections.

On 26 August she addresses a rally of 500,000 gathered in front of the Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon. “I could not, as my father’s daughter, remain indifferent to all that was going on,” she says. “This national crisis could, in fact, be called the second struggle for independence.”

She calls on the military government to cease using force and reiterates her proposal for the establishment of a consultative committee to help resolve the crisis. However, on 18 September, following a bloody power struggle within the government, it is announced that there has been a military coup.

The State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), a junta composed of 21 senior military officers led by Saw Maung, the military commander-in-chief, now rules Burma under martial law. It is later reported that Maung had been instructed to stage the coup by Ne Win.

SLORC claims it will turn over power after free and fair elections, but political gatherings of more than four persons are banned and force is again used to suppress demonstrators.

The opposition is formally organised into the National League for Democracy (NLD) on 24 September, with Suu Kyi as secretary-general. Defying the ban, she speaks at over 100 public meetings during extensive campaign tours across the country. She advocates nonviolent protest, urges the UN to intervene and accuses Ne Win of controlling SLORC behind the scenes.

Suu Kyi’s mother dies on 27 December. At the funeral held on 2 January 1989, Suu Kyi vows to follow the example of her mother and father and selflessly serve the people of Burma without fear of the personal cost.

1989 – Suu Kyi continues her campaign despite intimidation by the junta, which prohibits her from standing for election. On 5 April, while touring the country, she is confronted by soldiers blocking a street down which she and her supporters are walking. When the soldiers threaten to shot, Suu Kyi asks her companions to step aside and then walks up to and past the rifles aimed at her. At the last moment the soldiers are ordered not to fire. “It seemed so much simpler to provide them with a single target than to bring everyone else in,” she later says.

In June the country’s name is officially changed to the Union of Myanmar, and the name of the capital from Rangoon to Yangon. The same month, troops shoot at Suu Kyi’s car in Rangoon.

Suu Kyi is placed under house arrest in Rangoon on 20 July for “endangering the state.” She lives alone and is only allowed visits from members of her immediate family. Under the laws of the junta she can be held without charge or trial for three years. The period for detention without charge or trial is extended to five years in 1991.

On arrest Suu Kyi begins a hunger strike in support of her jailed colleagues. She ends her fast after 12 days when the junta assures her that the political prisoners will not be maltreated. The military offer to free her if she leaves Burma but she refuses to go until the country is returned to civilian government and political prisoners are freed.

1990 – At multiparty general elections on 27 May the NLD wins 82% of the seats contested. However, the junta ignores the results, refuses to allow the parliament to convene, and jails the NLD’s elected candidates.

The junta says it cannot accept the establishment of a civilian government based on an interim constitution and that it will not hand over power until a new constitution is passed by a national convention.

In July the junta revokes Suu Kyi’s right to visits from her immediate family. All outside contact is forbidden, including by post.

Suu Kyi’s plight comes to world attention. She is described as ‘Burma’s Gandhi’. The secretary-general of the UN repeatedly calls for her release, and governments around the world urge SLORC to respect the election results.

1991 – On 14 October Suu Kyi is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for her nonviolent struggle for democracy and human rights.”

“She became the leader of a democratic opposition which employs nonviolent means to resist a regime characterised by brutality,” the Nobel Committee says.

“She also emphasises the need for conciliation between the sharply divided regions and ethnic groups in her country.

“Suu Kyi’s struggle is one of the most extraordinary examples of civil courage in Asia in recent decades. She has become an important symbol in the struggle against oppression.”

At the award presentation ceremony held in Oslo on 10 December the chairman of the Nobel Committee says, “In the good fight for peace and reconciliation, we are dependent on persons who set examples, persons who can symbolise what we are seeking and mobilise the best in us. Aung San Suu Kyi is just such a person. …

“She unites deep commitment and tenacity with a vision in which the end and the means form a single unit … It is not least Aung San Suu Kyi’s impressive courage which makes her such a potent symbol, like Gandhi and her father Aung San … She has indeed taken up her inheritance, and is now in her own right the symbol of the revolt against violence and the struggle for a free society, not only in Burma, but also in the rest of Asia and in many other parts of the world.

“We ordinary people, I believe, feel that with her courage and her high ideals, Aung San Suu Kyi brings out something of the best in us. We feel we need precisely her sort of person in order to retain our faith in the future. That is what gives her such power as a symbol, and that is why any ill-treatment of her feels like a violation of what we have most at heart.”

Full copy of the presentation speech.

Suu Kyi’s sons accept the award in her absence. “(The military) regime has through almost 30 years of misrule reduced the once prosperous ‘Golden Land’ of Burma to one of the world’s most economically destitute nations,” her son Alexander says in the acceptance speech he delivers on behalf of his mother.

“In their heart of hearts even those in power now in Rangoon must know that their eventual fate will be that of all totalitarian regimes who seek to impose their authority through fear, repression and hatred.”

Suu Kyi announces that she will use the US$1.3 million prize money to establish a health and education trust for the Burmese people.

In December her book, ‘Freedom from Fear’, is published.

1992 – In April Saw Maung is replaced as chairman of SLORC, prime minister and military commander-in-chief by General Than Shwe. On 24 April the junta announces that it will organise a national convention to draft a new constitution.

1993 – The first session of the national constitutional convention is held on 9 January. Over 80% of the 702 delegates are directly appointed by the junta. They represent political parties, workers, peasants and technocrats. The NLD is represented by 86 delegates.

1994 – The junta now says it can detain Suu Kyi for up to six years without charge or trial.

Suu Kyi calls for dialogue. Than Shwe and General Khin Nyunt, the chief of military intelligence, subsequently meet with her on 20 September. It is their first meeting since Suu Kyi’s arrest. She meets with Khin Nyunt again on 28 October.

1995 – Suu Kyi is freed from house arrest on 10 July but is not allowed to travel outside Rangoon. She continues her calls for dialogue and a peaceful transition to a democratic government, using weekend talks to crowds outside her house to convey her message to the Burmese people and the world.

In November the NLD walks out of the national constitutional convention, arguing that the convention is undemocratic and that the draft constitution would entrench military control of the government.

On 29 November the junta formally expels all of the NLD delegates. The convention is completely suspended on 31 March the following year.

Over Christmas, Suu Kyi’s husband Michael travels to Burma to be with his wife. It is the last time the couple will meet.

1996 – In May over 256 members of the NLD are arrested or detained. In June the junta forbids the unauthorised writing of a state constitution. The penalty for violation is 20 years imprisonment. On 19 June 100 of Suu Kyi’s friends are prevented from visiting her at home to celebrate her fifty-second birthday.

On 26 September 159 NLD delegates and 414 supporters around the country are arrested ahead of an NLD congress. Suu Kyi’s Rangoon residence is blockaded by the junta and she is prevented from giving her weekend talks.

Large-scale student demonstrations against the junta break out in October, continuing until the end of the year. SLORC detains over 200 NLD activists and confines Suu Kyi to her residence.

On 9 November a 200-strong mob thought to be members of the government-sponsored Union Solidarity and Development Association attack an NLD motorcade carrying Suu Kyi as it travels in broad daylight through Rangoon. Neither the police nor army officers intervene and no one is ever charged.

1997 – The repression of the NLD continues, although it is allowed to hold a congress at Suu Kyi’s Rangoon residence.

The international community begins to respond to the repression. The European Union (EU) introduces limited sanctions against the junta. Tougher sanctions are implemented by the US in May.

However, the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) takes a conciliatory line, admitting Burma as a full member on 23 July.

The junta, meanwhile, undergoes a shakeup after a dressing down by Ne Win. On 15 November SLORC dissolves itself, reforming as the 19-member State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), chaired by Than Shwe. Maung Aye is deputy-chairman, and Khin Nyunt is first secretary.

1998 – In July Suu Kyi makes several attempts to leave Rangoon to meet with NLD officials but is stopped each time by the military at the city’s border and forced back to her home. During one standoff beginning on 23 July Suu Kyi remains by her car for six days.

She again attempts to leave Rangoon on 12 August and is again stopped. Once more she refuses to leave her car, camping by the stationary vehicle for 13 days.

1999 – Suu Kyi’s husband Michael is diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. The junta refuses to grant him a visa to visit his wife before he dies but says it will allow Suu Kyi to leave the country to visit him. She declines; fearing she will not be allowed back into the country if she leaves. Her husband dies on 27 March.

In December the junta allows Suu Kyi’s sons to travel to Burma to visit her.

2000 – Suu Kyi is stopped by police when she attempts to travel to the countryside on 24 August. This standoff, during which she and her supporters again remain camped by the roadside, lasts until 2 September when she is forced to return to the capital and is placed under virtual house arrest.

On 21 September she attempts to travel to the northern city of Mandalay by train but is not permitted to board. Suu Kyi is placed under house arrest and 92 members of the NLD are detained.

The NLD announces plans to draw up a new constitution in contravention of the law forbidding such action without approval from the junta.

2001 – Suu Kyi remains under virtual house arrest, although it is revealed in January that UN-brokered talks between her and the junta recommenced in October 2000. The talks are reported to have been initiated by Khin Nyunt, with the backing of the now 90-year-old Ne Win.

The junta is said to be prepared to allow a return to democracy provided there is a transitional power-sharing arrangement between themselves and the NLD. They also want guaranteed immunity from prosecution for past human rights abuses, and a commitment from Suu Kyi that she will give up any personal political ambition.

2002 – Following a secret meeting between Suu Kyi and Than Shwe in January the junta steps up the release of political prisoners and the NLD is allowed to reopen 35 of its branches in Rangoon.

On 6 May Suu Kyi is released from her 19-month detention. The restrictions on her political activity are lifted. She is free to travel around the country and to lead the NLD, although her activities will be closely monitored by the junta.

In her first press conference after her release she says she is ready to start talks with the junta on a transition to civilian rule.

“I am sorry to have kept you waiting,” she begins. “My release is not a major triumph for democracy; my freedom is not the object of our struggle.

“I have never wavered in my commitment to achieving democracy. Unless we can attain democracy by peaceful means we will simply be storing up more trouble for our people in the future.

“I will do everything I can to see that democracy comes to Burma very quickly and comes in the right way. We have always been flexible; we want to be flexible. And we want to negotiate an agreement for the betterment of the people of Burma.”

At the end of July more political prisoners are released. Further releases follow in August. However, the junta refuses to be drawn on when talks with Suu Kyi will begin, despite the continuing efforts of the UN to bring the parties together and the adoption by Suu Kyi of a more conciliatory stance.

By 19 August the prospect of talks appears remote, with Khin Nyunt stating that a transition to democracy cannot be “done in haste and in a haphazard manner.”

In the closing months of the year Suu Kyi makes extensive tours of the country’s regional areas. She is enthusiastically received by the people but regularly subjected to harassment from the authorities and the government-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), which is chaired by Than Shwe.

2003 – On 27 May, to mark the 13th anniversary of the NLD’s landslide victory in the still unrecognised general election, Suu Kyi makes her strongest statement against the junta since her release from house arrest in May 2002.

“The NLD must stand up firmly to achieve the results of the elections of 1990,” she says. “To ignore the result of the 1990 elections is to have total disrespect for the people and is also an insult to the people.”

The junta is said to be furious with the statement and worried by Suu Kyi’s growing popularity.

Harassment of Suu Kyi by members of the USDA and intimidation of her supporters begins to rise, culminating in a deadly confrontation on the evening of 30 May, as Suu Kyi draws to the end of a month-long tour of the north.

At least four and possibly more than 80 people are killed when a pro-junta crowd stops Suu Kyi’s motorcade near the village of Depayin, about 100 km northwest of Mandalay.

Suu Kyi is taken into “protective custody” by security forces and returned to Rangoon, where she is held incommunicado, reportedly in a two-room hut at the Insein Prison on the outskirts of the capital.

Nineteen other leaders of the NLD are also held in “protective custody.” NLD offices throughout Burma are closed and university campuses and secondary schools are shut for two weeks.

The conditions of Suu Kyi’s detention remain unclear until 10 June when UN special envoy Razali Ismail is allowed to see her. Razali reports that “she is well and in good spirits.” However, she is still wearing the clothes she was arrested in.

In response to Suu Kyi’s arrest, the US, the EU, Britain and Canada extend the sanctions against the junta.

China, however, advises nonintervention and in September loans the Burmese Government US$200 million to buy Chinese goods, including military equipment.

Japan, Burma’s leading foreign aid donor, threatens to review its aid program if the junta does not release Suu Kyi “immediately” and allow democratic reforms. On 25 June financial aid for new development projects is suspended.

ASEAN issues an unprecedented joint statement saying it looks forward to the early lifting of restrictions placed on Suu Kyi and the NLD but remains opposed to the use of economic and political sanctions against the junta.

At the start of July it is reported that Suu Kyi has been removed from the Insein Prison to a military guesthouse outside Rangoon.

First hand news on Suu Kyi’s well-being emerges on 29 July, after the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is allowed to visit her at an undisclosed location. According to ICRC’s representative in Burma, Michel Ducreaux, “It was a very decent place and the conditions were also very decent. … She was in very good health and she wasn’t hurt at all. She was in high spirits.”

At the end of August the leadership of the SPDC is reorganised, with hardliners being brought into top positions while the relatively pragmatic Khin Nyunt is shifted into the largely ceremonial post of prime minister. Several days later, on 30 August, Khin Nyunt unveils the junta’s “road map to democracy”, a plan to restart the constitutional convention suspended in 1996 as a first step towards “free and fair” elections.

However, the plan lacks a specific timetable and makes no reference to the role of Suu Kyi and the NLD.

Meanwhile, Suu Kyi is transferred to the Asia Royal Hospital in Rangoon for a hysterectomy 19 September. She is discharged on 26 September and allowed to return to her home to recuperate. She remains under house arrest and incommunicado, although UN special envoy Razali Ismail is allowed to visit her on 1 October.

2004 – UN special envoy Razali Ismail returns to Burma on 1 March, emerging up-beat about the prospects for democracy following meetings with Suu Kyi and Khin Nyunt.

“I think (Khin Nyunt) is truly committed to take this process to a transition to democracy,” Razali says. “I believe he thinks there can be a working relationship established between Suu Kyi, the NLD and with him.”

Referring to Suu Kyi, Razali says, “She told me she is prepared to turn a new page. … There’s no sense of recriminations. She’s not asking for a pound of flesh.”

On 30 March the junta announces that the constitutional convention will be reconvened on 17 May. All the delegates to the previous convention, including those from the NLD, are later invited to attend the meeting, which is to be held at Nyaung Hnapin, Hmawbi township, 32 km north of Rangoon. However, Suu Kyi is left off the list, on the grounds that she did not attend the first convention (she was in detention at the time).

The NLD refuses to consider the invitation until Suu Kyi and other members of the NLD Central Committee are free to meet and discuss the matter. The Karen National Union, which represents Burma’s largest ethnic minority, also refuses to attend until Suu Kyi is released and the junta implements basic political reforms.

On 27 April the entire nine-member Central Committee of the NLD, including the still detained Suu Kyi and party Deputy Chairman Tin Oo, are allowed to meet at Suu Kyi’s residence. It is the first time Suu Kyi has been permitted to meet with members of the NLD since her rearrest.

Two days later, following a second meeting of the Central Committee, the party announces that it is prepared to participate in the constitutional convention if Suu Kyi and Tin Oo are freed, and provided all NLD offices across the country are allowed to reopen.

However, the junta refuses to accept the NLD’s demands, saying Suu Kyi and Tin Oo will remain detained “for the time being to ensure the peaceful development of the national convention.” On 14 May the NLD announces that it will not attend the convention, throwing the meeting’s legitimacy into question.

The convention proceeds nevertheless. Held under strict security and with limited press coverage, it is attended by 1,076 delegates, including representatives from 17 former ethnic insurgent groups. It is subsequently described by Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the UN Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights to Burma, as a “meaningless and undemocratic exercise.”

“In all the transitions that I know … I don’t know a single transition that has operated under these constraints,” Pinheiro says. “I don’t understand the purpose of this surrealistic exercise. … It will not work. It will not work because it has not worked in Brazil, in Uruguay, in Argentina, in Portugal, in Spain, in the Philippines, in Indonesia. This way of political transition will not work; will not work on the moon, will not work on Mars.”

The convention goes into recess on 9 July. It will reconvene periodically over the coming years. The NLD will continue its boycott.

The prospects for political reform in Burma and the release of Suu Kyi are further dimmed on 18 October when Khin Nyunt is charged with corruption by the junta, removed from office and put under house arrest. He is replaced as prime minister by Lieutenant-general Soe Win, a hard-line protégé of Than Shwe.

Soe Win is believed to have been involved in the planning of the attack on Suu Kyi on 30 May 2003. The international humanitarian organisation Human Rights Watch reports that he has stated publicly that “the SPDC not only will not talk to the NLD but also would never hand over power to the NLD.”

On 27 November the junta informs Suu Kyi that she will remain under house arrest for at least another year.

2005 – Suu Kyi passes a milestone on 24 October. The date marks the tenth full year she has been held in custody. NLD deputy chairman Tin Oo also remains in custody.

On 27 November the junta extends Suu Kyi’s current period of house arrest for another six months.

2006 – On 18 May the UN Undersecretary-general for Political Affairs, Ibrahim Gambari, is allowed entry to Burma for a three day visit. He meets with Suu Kyi and with Than Shwe. It is the first time Suu Kyi has been allowed a visit from a foreigner in over two years.

Eight days later, on 26 May, Suu Kyi’s detention under house arrest is extended for another year.

Gambari returns to Burma on 9 November and again meets with Suu Kyi, reporting she remains in relatively good health despite being denied visits by her doctor since 24 August.

A week later Suu Kyi receives a medical checkup, including an ultrasound.

2007 – On 25 May Suu Kyi’s detention is extended for yet another year.

In August protesters begin to take to Burma’s streets after the junta raises the price of cooking gas by 500% and doubles the cost of transport fuels. The protest movement gains momentum and comes to be know as the ‘Saffron Revolution’ when Buddhist monks join in then take the lead.

Demonstrations continue for six weeks, growing in size and spreading throughout the country. They are the largest protests seen in Burma since the ‘Democracy Summer’ of 1988.

On 22 September the monks symbolically link Suu Kyi to the movement when hundreds of them are allowed to march past her house in Rangoon. A weeping Suu Kyi appears briefly to greet them as they pass. It is her first public appearance in four years. Two days later as many as 100,000 protestors led by thousands of monks march in Rangoon.

The junta cracks down on 26 September. At least 15 people are killed, including a Japanese journalist, when the military resorts to violence to disperse the crowds, using tear gas and truncheons then opening fire with rubber bullets and live rounds. It is reported that Than Shwe has ordered the soldiers to shoot to kill. Opposition groups claim that hundreds are killed. Close to 3,000 people are arrested, including hundreds of monks.

At the start of November UN Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights to Burma, Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, is allowed to visit the country for the first time in four years. He estimates that at least 31 were killed in the crackdown. His report lists a further 74 persons who have disappeared and 653 who remain in custody.

Meanwhile, the constitutional convention concludes on 3 September with the release of a set of guidelines that entrench the power of the military and bar Suu Kyi from holding political office. A junta-appointed panel begins to draft the constitution in December.

On 11 October the UN Security Council issues a statement strongly deploring the military crackdown and calling for the release of all political prisoners and the opening of “genuine dialogue” with Suu Kyi and other concerned parties. An earlier, stronger version of the statement had been watered-down at the instance of China and Russia.

The EU widens its limited sanctions on Burma on 15 October. The US extends its sanctions on 19 October and again in December.

On 8 November Suu Kyi announces that she is ready to “cooperate with the government in order to make (the) process of dialogue a success.”

She is allowed to meet with leaders of the NLD on 9 November. It is the first such meeting in more than three years. Suu Kyi is reported to look “fit, well and energetic” and to be “very optimistic” about the prospects of dialogue with the junta.

Suu Kyi also has periodic meetings with a government liaison officer, though she later reports to the NLD that she is unsatisfied with the progress of these talks.

2008 – In a surprise move, the junta announces on 9 February that a referendum on the new constitution will be held in May, to be followed by a multiparty, democratic election in 2010.

The constitution, which is finalised on 19 February, gives ultimate power to the army commander-in-chief, allocates 25% of the seats in parliament to military appointees and excludes Suu Kyi and others with marital links to foreign countries from standing for office.

Public servants and military personnel are ordered to vote in favour of the constitution. Opponents are threatened and arrested. The poll is to be administered by the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association. The junta forbids foreign observers.

The NLD and other opposition groups urge the Burmese people to reject the document when they vote.

On the evening of 2 May, eight days before the constitution referendum is scheduled to take place, a powerful cyclone blasts in from the Andaman Sea, crosses the Irrawaddy delta and heads for Rangoon. Burma’s southwest, the country’s most populous and productive region, is devastated by winds that reach 190 kilometres per hour and by the 3.5 metre tidal surge and torrential rain that follows. Much of Rangoon is battered. It is reported that part of the roof of Suu Kyi’s house is blown off.

By 24 June the official death toll is 84,537. Another 53,836 are listed as missing. The Red Cross estimates that the final death toll could be as high as 128,000. Over two million are estimated to be homeless.

Despite the crisis, the junta insists that the constitution referendum go ahead on 10 May as scheduled in all but the hardest-hit areas (where the vote is held two weeks later). The result is never in doubt. According to the junta, 92% of eligible voters approve the document.

The NLD rejects the vote, saying the junta has used “coercion, intimidation, deception, misinformation and undue influence, abuse of power to get the affirmative vote.”

Meanwhile, the US Senate passes a vote conferring the Congressional Gold Medal on Suu Kyi. The medal is the United States’ highest civilian honour.

On 27 May, Suu Kyi’s detention is extended for another year. It will be her sixth consecutive year under house arrest, despite a Burmese law requiring those held for five years to be either tried or set free.

To protest her continued house arrest and the lack of progress in talks with the junta, Suu Kyi refuses to accept food delivered to her home. She also refuses to meet with UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari when he visits Burma at the end of August. In September she refuses to meet her doctor and the government’s liaison officer.

Later in September the junta grants Suu Kyi some small concessions. She is allowed to receive regular mail, including letters from her sons, and deliveries of selected foreign news journals. Her two housekeepers are also allowed greater freedom of movement.

2009 – On 6 May a US citizen, John William Yettaw, is arrested in Rangoon after reportedly swimming to Suu Kyi’s lakeside house and staying there for two days.

On 14 May, just two weeks before her period of detention is due to expire, Suu Kyi and her two housekeepers are arrested and taken to Insein prison. Suu Kyi is charged with breaching the terms of her detention by providing Yettaw with shelter. She faces between three and five years jail.

Suu Kyi’s trial begins on 18 May at the Insein Special Court. The result is a foregone conclusion.

Suu Kyi pleads not guilty to the charges. “This incident (Yettaw’s visit) occurred because of a security breach (by authorities),” Suu Kyi says in her statement to the court. “However, until now no action has been taken on security. …

“The fact that I am the only party being prosecuted shows the partiality of the prosecution. I hereby submit my statement that I do not violate any crime as charged. …

“I allowed him (Yettaw) to take temporary refuge in my political belief that I will not push anyone into custody. It does not matter who are the intruders or whatever their motive, I just did it out of my political belief.”

On 11 August the court delivers its verdict. Suu Kyi is found guilty as charged and sentenced to a further 18 months of house arrest.

At the start of September Suu Kyi’s legal team lodge an appeal against the conviction. The appeal is turned down. A second appeal is also rejected. A third appeal is lodged in May 2010.

2010 – On 29 March the NLD announces that it will boycott the national elections. Under the junta’s electoral laws, the decision means that the party will cease to formally exist after 6 May, the cut-off date for registration.

At the same time, the junta registers the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) to represent its interests at the poll. The party derives from and replaces the Union Solidarity and Development Association, which is subsequently disbanded. Members of the junta begin to resign from the military so they can contest the elections as civilians.

The national election is be held on 7 November. The junta claims a landslide victory for the USDP.

Suu Kyi is finally released from house arrest six days later, on 13 November. Thousands of Burmese take to the streets to celebrate her return.

“With the support of the people, I will continue to work towards national reconciliation,” she tells a crowd outside the NLD headquarters in Rangoon.

“I cannot say the details of what I am going to do – only that I will work for national reconciliation. …

“I want to hear the voice of the people. After that we will decide what we want to do. I want to work with all democratic forces. I believe in human rights and I believe in the rule of law.”

Speaking to the BBC, she questions the validity of the election. “From what I have heard there are many many questions about the fairness of the election and there are many many allegations of vote rigging and so on,” she says, adding that the NLD would investigate the claims.

Suu Kyi says she wants to see a “nonviolent, peaceful revolution” in Burma.

“By revolution I mean a great change for the better. … I don’t want to see the military falling. I want to see the military rising to dignified heights of professionalism and true patriotism.”

She also reflects on the possibility or rearrest. “I’m not fearful, not in the sense that I think to myself that ‘I won’t do this or I won’t do that because they’ll put me under arrest again’. That I don’t have in mind,” she says.

“But I know that there’s always the possibility that I might be rearrested. It’s not something that I particularly wish for, because if you’re placed under arrest you can’t work as much as you can when you’re not under arrest.”

On 23 November Suu Kyi’s youngest son, Kim, flies into Rangoon to see his mother for the first time in 10 year.

2011 – Burma’s new parliament sits for the first time on 1 February. Thein Sein, a former general and close associate of Than Shwe, is appointed as president. Than Shwe takes the reins of a new grouping, the State Supreme Council. The council will be the most powerful body in the country. In effect, it replaces the State Peace and Development Council, which is dissolved at the end of March, following the inaguration of the new government..

Comment: The military dictators of Burma have turned a country that was once known as the “rice bowl of Asia”, and which is endowed with many natural riches, into a basket case. They have cynically manipulated and brutalised the country’s ethnic minorities, and suppressed those fighting for democracy.

Suu Kyi is the symbol of the Burmese people’s struggle for freedom. Her poise, humility and integrity stand in stark counterpoint to secrecy and self-interest of the junta. The junta’s treatment of Suu Kyi is the yardstick of its commitment to democracy and human rights. So far it is not measuring up. Under its current leadership it is unlikely it ever will.

The only hope for Burma appears to be the development of a fracture within the junta that leads to its collapse. This is unlikely while Burma’s neighbours – China, India and ASEAN – continue to either support Than Shwe and his cronies or condone them by their silence.

Source: http://www.moreorless.au.com/heroes/suukyi.html

Li became the first Chinese player, man or woman, to win a Grand Slam singles title by beating defending champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy 6-4, 7-6 (0) at Roland Garros on Saturday. The sixth-seeded Li used powerful groundstrokes to compile a 31-12 edge in winners, and won the last nine points of the match, a run that began when the fifth-seeded Schiavone was flustered by a line call she was sure was wrong.

Country: China

Residence: Wuhan, Hubei, China

Date of Birth: February 26, 1982

Place of birth: Wuhan, Hubei, China

Height: 1.72m (5 feet 7.5 inch)

• Hikaru Utada – music scene’s baby; youngest artist ever to appear on MTV’s Unplugged
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• One Vo1ce – hot R&B group
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All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.
All war is based on deception.
All war is deception.
All warfare is based on deception.
Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent’s fate.
Can you imagine what I would do if I could do all I can?
Confront them with annihilation, and they will then survive; plunge them into a deadly situation, and they will then live. When people fall into danger, they are then able to strive for victory.
For them to perceive the advantage of defeating the enemy, they must also have their rewards.
For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.
He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious.
He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot, will be victorious.
Hence that general is skilful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skilful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.
If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril.
If our soldiers are not overburdened with money, it is not because they have a distaste for riches; if their lives are not unduly long, it is not because they are disinclined to longevity.
If you are far from the enemy, make him believe you are near.
If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.
In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy’s country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good.
Invincibility lies in the defence; the possibility of victory in the attack.
It is essential to seek out enemy agents who have come to conduct espionage against you and to bribe them to serve you. Give them instructions and care for them. Thus doubled agents are recruited and used.
It is only the enlightened ruler and the wise general who will use the highest intelligence of the army for the purposes of spying, and thereby they achieve great results.
Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.
Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.
Now the reason the enlightened prince and the wise general conquer the enemy whenever they move and their achievements surpass those of ordinary men is foreknowledge.
Of all those in the army close to the commander none is more intimate than the secret agent; of all rewards none more liberal than those given to secret agents; of all matters none is more confidential than those relating to secret operations.
Opportunities multiply as they are seized.
Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance.
Prohibit the taking of omens, and do away with superstitious doubts. Then, until death itself comes, no calamity need be feared.
Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death.
Secret operations are essential in war; upon them the army relies to make its every move.
Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.
The enlightened ruler is heedful, and the good general full of caution.
The general who advances without coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace, whose only thought is to protect his country and do good service for his sovereign, is the jewel of the kingdom.
The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand.
The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.
The opportunity to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.
The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim.
The skilful employer of men will employ the wise man, the brave man, the covetous man, and the stupid man.
The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.
There has never been a protracted war from which a country has benefited.
There is no instance of a nation benefitting from prolonged warfare.
Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.
Thus, what is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy’s strategy.
To fight and conquer in all our battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.
To see victory only when it is within the ken of the common herd is not the acme of excellence.
Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.
When envoys are sent with compliments in their mouths, it is a sign that the enemy wishes for a truce.
You have to believe in yourself.

Hu Shih

Source: Wikipedia

Quotes

After learning the language and culture of the Chinese people, these Jesuits began to establish contacts with the young intellectuals of the country.
And lastly, the political revolutions from 1911 to the present time have done more to bring about tremendous social changes everywhere than even the economic and industrial changes and the new schools.
And revolutions always mean the breakdown of old authority.
Another important historical factor is the fact that this already very simple religion was further simplified and purified by the early philosophers of ancient China. Our first great philosopher was a founder of naturalism; and our second great philosopher was an agnostic.
But I wish to point out that it is entirely wrong to say that the Chinese are not religious.
Confucius was a humanist and an agnostic.
For all the social changes in China can be traced to their early beginnings in the days when the new tools or vehicles of commerce and locomotion first brought the Chinese people into unavoidable contact with the strange ways and novel goods of the Western peoples.
Historically, there had been many periods of Chinese Renaissance.
In such diffused changes of culture two factors are necessary: contact and understanding.
In the year 1915 a series of trivial incidents led some Chinese students in Cornell University to take up the question of reforming the Chinese language.
India Conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border.
It is only through contact and comparison that the relative value or worthlessness of the various cultural elements can be clearly and critically seen and understood.
It is true that the Chinese are not so religious as the Hindus, or even as the Japanese; and they are certainly not so religious as the Christian missionaries desire them to be.
Life and human society are the chief concern of Confucianism and, through it, the chief concern of the Chinese people.
No student of Chinese history can say that the Chinese are incapable of religious experience, even when judged by the standards of medieval Europe or pious India.
On July 26, 1916, I announced to all my friends in America that from now on I resolved to write no more poems in the classical language, and to begin my experiments in writing poetry in the so-called vulgar tongue of the people.
On the basis of biological, sociological, and historical knowledge, we should recognize that the individual self is subject to death or decay, but the sum total of individual achievement, for better or worse, lives on in the immortality of The Larger.
Only when we realize that there is no eternal, unchanging truth or absolute truth can we arouse in ourselves a sense of intellectual responsibility.
Practically all the prominent leaders of thought in China today are openly agnostics and even atheists.
The Chinese people, too, went through all kinds of vicissitudes in their religious development.  The Jesuits had learned that a Christian mission to China could never succeed if it were not in a position to show and convince the Chinese intelligentsia of the superiority of the European culture.
The rise of the dramas in the thirteenth century, and the rise of the great novels in a later period, together with their frank glorification of love and the joys of life, may be called the Third Renaissance.
What is sacred among one people may be ridiculous in another; and what is despised or rejected by one cultural group, may in a different environment become the cornerstone for a great edifice of strange grandeur and beauty.
Within my own life, I read all the beloved novels by lamps of vegetable oil; I saw the Standard Oil invading my own village, I saw gas lamps in the Chinese shops in Shanghai; and I saw their elimination by electric lights.

A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.
A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.
A scholar who cherishes the love of comfort is not fit to be deemed a scholar.
All difficult things have their origin in that which is easy, and great things in that which is small.
Ambition has one heel nailed in well, though she stretch her fingers to touch the heavens.
An ant on the move does more than a dozing ox.
Anticipate the difficult by managing the easy.
At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.
Be Content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.
Be the chief but never the lord.
Because of a great love, one is courageous.
Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.
By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond the winning.
Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.
Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt.
From caring comes courage.
From wonder into wonder existence opens.
Govern a great nation as you would cook a small fish. Do not overdo it.
Governing a great nation is like cooking a small fish – too much handling will spoil it.
Great acts are made up of small deeds.
Great indeed is the sublimity of the Creative, to which all beings owe their beginning and which permeates all heaven.
He who conquers others is strong; He who conquers himself is mighty.
He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.
He who does not trust enough, Will not be trusted.
He who is contented is rich.
He who knows himself is enlightened.
He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.
He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.
He who knows, does not speak. He who speaks, does not know.
He who obtains has little. He who scatters has much.
He who talks more is sooner exhausted.
Health is the greatest possession. Contentment is the greatest treasure. Confidence is the greatest friend. Non-being is the greatest joy.
How could man rejoice in victory and delight in the slaughter of men?
I do not concern myself with gods and spirits either good or evil nor do I serve any.
I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.
If the Great Way perishes there will morality and duty. When cleverness and knowledge arise great lies will flourish. When relatives fall out with one another there will be filial duty and love. When states are in confusion there will be faithful servants.
If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.
If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to. If you are not afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve.
If you would take, you must first give, this is the beginning of intelligence.
In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don’t try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present.  In the world there is nothing more submissive and weak than water. Yet for attacking that which is hard and strong nothing can surpass it.
It is better to do one’s own duty, however defective it may be, than to follow the duty of another, however well one may perform it. He who does his duty as his own nature reveals it, never sins.
Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.
Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment.
Life and death are one thread, the same line viewed from different sides.
Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.
Love is of all passions the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head, the heart and the senses.
Man’s enemies are not demons, but human beings like himself.
Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity, reduce selfishness, have few desires.
Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.
Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.
Nature is not human hearted.
Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.
Of all that is good, sublimity is supreme. Succeeding is the coming together of all that is beautiful. Furtherance is the agreement of all that is just. Perseverance is the foundation of all actions.
One can not reflect in streaming water. Only those who know internal peace can give it to others.
One who is too insistent on his own views, finds few to agree with him.
People in their handlings of affairs often fail when they are about to succeed. If one remains as careful at the end as he was at the beginning, there will be no failure.
Respond intelligently even to unintelligent treatment.
Silence is a source of great strength.
Simulated disorder postulates perfect discipline; simulated fear postulates courage; simulated weakness postulates strength.
The career of a sage is of two kinds: He is either honored by all in the world, Like a flower waving its head, Or else he disappears into the silent forest.
The higher the sun ariseth, the less shadow doth he cast; even so the greater is the goodness, the less doth it covet praise; yet cannot avoid its rewards in honours.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
The key to growth is the introduction of higher dimensions of consciousness into our awareness.
The more laws and order are made prominent, the more thieves and robbers there will be.
The people are hungry: It is because those in authority eat up too much in taxes.
The power of intuitive understanding will protect you from harm until the end of your days.
The sage does not hoard. The more he helps others, the more he benefits himself, The more he gives to others, the more he gets himself. The Way of Heaven does one good but never does one harm. The Way of the sage is to act but not to compete.
The softest things in the world overcome the hardest things in the world.
The wicked leader is he who the people despise. The good leader is he who the people revere. The great leader is he who the people say, ‘We did it ourselves.’
The wise man does not lay up his own treasures. The more he gives to others, the more he has for his own.
The words of truth are always paradoxical.
Those who have knowledge, don’t predict. Those who predict, don’t have knowledge.
To know yet to think that one does not know is best; Not to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty.
To lead people walk behind them.
To love someone deeply gives you strength. Being loved by someone deeply gives you courage.
To realize that you do not understand is a virtue; Not to realize that you do not understand is a defect.
To see things in the seed, that is genius.
To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.  Treat those who are good with goodness, and also treat those who are not good with goodness. Thus goodness is attained. Be honest to those who are honest, and be also honest to those who are not honest. Thus honesty is attained.
Truthful words are not beautiful; beautiful words are not truthful. Good words are not persuasive; persuasive words are not good.
Violence, even well intentioned, always rebounds upon oneself.
When a nation is filled with strife, then do patriots flourish.
When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.
When the best leader’s work is done the people say, “We did it ourselves.”
When virtue is lost, benevolence appears, when benevolence is lost right conduct appears, when right conduct is lost, expedience appears. Expediency is the mere shadow of right and truth; it is the beginning of disorder.
When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you.
Without stirring abroad, One can know the whole world; Without looking out of the window One can see the way of heaven. The further one goes The less one knows.

Source: Wikipedia

Quotes

All existing things are really one. We regard those that are beautiful and rare as valuable, and those that are ugly as foul and rotten The foul and rotten may come to be transformed into what is rare and valuable, and the rare and valuable into what is foul and rotten.
Cherish that which is within you, and shut off that which is without; for much knowledge is a curse.
Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.
Great wisdom is generous; petty wisdom is contentious.
Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness.
I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man.
I dreamed I was a butterfly, flitting around in the sky; then I awoke. Now I wonder: Am I a man who dreamt of being a butterfly, or am I a butterfly dreaming that I am a man?
I know the joy of fishes in the river through my own joy, as I go walking along the same river.
Life comes from the earth and life returns to the earth.
Men honor what lies within the sphere of their knowledge, but do not realize how dependent they are on what lies beyond it.
Rewards and punishment is the lowest form of education.
Those who realize their folly are not true fools.
Those who seek to satisfy the mind of man by hampering it with ceremonies and music and affecting charity and devotion have lost their original nature.
We cling to our own point of view, as though everything depended on it. Yet our opinions have no permanence; like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away.

Born in Hanoi, Vietnam, he was educated there, completing his baccalaureate at 17. In 1936, he continued his studies in France, becoming a student of Maurice Merleau-Ponty at the École Normale Supérieure where he wrote a dissertation for a diplôme d’études supérieures on Hegel. In 1943, he completed his agrégation with a thesis on the phenomenology of Edmund Husserl, being received premier ex aequo alongside Jules Vuillemin. Through the 1940s, he worked on his first book, Phenomenology and Dialectical Materialism. The book argued that the defects of the phenomenological account of consciousness could only be remedied by the Marxist account of labor and society. In the 1940s and 50s, Trần Đức Thảo’s ideas achieved some currency among the elite philosophical circles of France. At the same time, he became an active anti-colonialist, publishing articles in Jean-Paul Sartre and Merleau-Ponty’s journal Les Temps modernes about colonialism in Indochina; these articles were read by Frantz Fanon and other anticolonialists. From October to December 1945, Trần Đức Thảo was jailed by the French government as a threat to its security. Phenomenology and Dialectical Materialism was published in 1951, and in the same year he returned to Vietnam, working in support of the Communist Party. In 1956, he was named the Dean of History in the country’s first national university.

But he became critical of the Party over land reforms which had led to many deaths in 1956, and Trần Đức Thảo was caught up in the Nhan Van-Giai Pham affair in which the dissident intellectuals of the late 1950s were publicly criticized or punished. Though Tran Duc Thao was never jailed, he fell out of favor with the ruling Party, publishing two self-criticisms in Nhân Dân and leaving his position of authority in 1958. None of his work was published in his home country from 1965 until 1987. For the next thirty years, his profile was lower, as he worked in the rural provinces translating philosophy into Vietnamese and preparing his book Investigations into the Origin of Language and Consciousness. This book, published in France in 1973, combined materialist biological and cognitive accounts of subjectivity and consciousness with the Marxist account he had elaborated earlier. In the liberalized political climate of the 1980s, he was able to return to France for medical treatment, and there he met many of his old philosophical colleagues again, although he lived in poverty in an apartment at the Vietnamese embassy. He died in Paris in 1993 and was cremated at the Père Lachaise Cemetery.

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